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Vilsack Becomes Longest-Serving Ag Secretary In Nearly 50 Years

Spencer, IA: (Nov. 17, 2014) – U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will soon become the longest-serving person in that Cabinet post in nearly 50 years.

On Friday, Vilsack will eclipse Bill Clinton’s long-time Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, having served five years and nine months. Vilsack will become the sixth-longest-serving agriculture secretary in U.S. history.

The last person to hold the job longer was Minnesotan Orville Freeman, who served eight years during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

The person to hold the job longest was another Iowan, James Wilson, who served sixteen years from March 1897 to March 1913, spanning the McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft administrations.